Top similar games like Brukel

Brukel: A Haunting Journey Through Memory’s Ruins

Brukel isn’t your typical horror game. It’s a poignant first-person exploration experience, a digital excavation of a 92-year-old woman’s past, filtered through the lens of her abandoned childhood home. You, the player, are a trespasser, driven by a desire to document the life of Bie Verlinden, the grandmother of the game’s creator, Bob De Schutter.

Armed only with a virtual smartphone camera, you navigate the decaying Brukel farmhouse. The gameplay is deceptively simple: photograph objects to unlock Bie’s memories, recounted in her own voice (Flemish dialect with English subtitles). Each snap is a window into her life, initially charming anecdotes, but slowly revealing a darker, more traumatic past.

The game’s brilliance lies in its emotional resonance. Brukel isn’t about jump scares; it’s about the subtle creep of unease as Bie’s stories shift from childhood joys to the hardships of a teenage girl. The house itself becomes a character, its crumbling walls mirroring the fragility of memory and the weight of the past.

Think *Gone Home* meets *Silent Hill*, with a dash of *This War of Mine*’s emotional depth. While light puzzles exist, the core experience is one of quiet contemplation, of piecing together a life through fragmented memories and decaying objects. Brukel is a short but impactful journey, a powerful testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit and the haunting power of memory, all experienced within an hour. Prepare to be moved.